Observations and provocations from The Times' Opinion staff

Occupy L.A.'s Sunday night cow

November 29, 2011 | 5:10
pm

The throngs of sympathizers who descended on the Occupy L.A. encampment Sunday and early Monday as protesters faced a midnight eviction notice turned the scene into something of a late-night street festival. Couples strolled arm in arm. People snapped photos of protesters hoisting signs and of police in riot gear. Steve Collett, the Libertarian candidate who ran unsuccessfully for Jane Harman's congressional seat, brought his two Great Pyrenees, Nilla and Sonny, who ambled across the City Hall grounds looking like white bears on leashes.

And then there was the cow. On a bicycle. Although some Occupy participants donned masks or swathed half their faces in bandannas, few thought of concealing themselves as bovines.

"We thought it would be a good idea to swarm the streets to make an impact," explained the cyclist as he rested his cow head on a ledge outside the Main Street entrance to City Hall. Master George, as this 32-year-old technology consultant preferred to be called, said he was part of a group of 30 masked or costumed bicyclists who joined the crowds at Occupy L.A. that night. "A group of us wanted to come down and show support."